Conveying apparatus.



P. R. BANNON. CONVEYING APPARATUS. APPLIOATIONFILED AUG. e, 1907.

Patented June 25, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPM coWAsHlNn'r0N, D4 cA P. R. BANNON. CONVEYINGAPPARATUS.

APPLIoATIoN FILED AUG. e, 1907.

1,030,451 Patented June 25,' 1912.

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CONVEYING APPARATUS.

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CONVEYING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patenti Patented June 25, 1912.

Appucauon mea August s, 1907. serial No. 387,599.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK It. BANNON, citizen of the United States,residing at Joliet, in t-he county of Will and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Conveying Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for conveying and dumping any suitablematerials to form fills or embankments of' any kind such as railroadroad-beds, breakwaters, etc., and consists generally' of a form ofendless conveyer mounted in a horizontal. position upon a series offlexibly connected trucks supported on suitable ground or track wheels.A load of loose material placed upon the conveyer is dumped at the endof the apparatus where the conveyer is caused to travel over tootheddrums, and pulleys, gears or wheels are placed at intervals to affordsuitable supports.

lIhe especial objects attained by my invention are: the conveying of afilling material from the source of supply to the point where it iswanted, and dumping it from the end of the apparatus; the loading andunA loading of the apparatus from or at a given point, without moving itwith respect to that point; the conveying of filling material t0 the endof a track laid to the edge of a gully, ravine, marsh, etc., and dumpingthe material over the end of the track, thus forming a lill orfoundation upon which the track may be extended and the operationrepeated until the work is finished, thus rendering unnecessary the useof trestles, cableways, falsework of any kind, the frequent raising oftracks, and other expensive expedients; to provide an end dump con`veyer of the class described in which all of the axles may moveindependently of each other, that is, may wind with respect to eachother, thus preventing the wheels from leaving the rails in passing overuneven track. It is a well known fact that the cause of ordinary dumpcars leaving the track lies in the rigidity of the car-frames whichpermits one wheel to be held up entirely clear of the rail while all theweight is upon the remaining three. In the operation of a conveyerembodying my invention it is impossible for one wheel to be held upclear of the rail as will fully appear.

My invention also is intended to provide carrying means that may beloaded or filled at the top in any well known manner, and if desired,may be unloaded at the sides with shovels in the usual way, instead ofautomatically at one end of the conveyer as especially provided by myinvention.

A further object of my invention is to secure a conveying and dumpingapparatus thatmay easily be moved over a track from a point of supply ofthe filling material to the place where such material is to be utilized.

In this. application for patent my improved conveyer is shown mounted onflanged wheels adapted to travel on rails, but it will be apparent thatthe same principles may be utilized in a similar apparatus equipped withtraction wheels. It will also be plain that the supporting beams whichconstitute the frame upon which the conveyer travels, as well as theconveyer proper will permit of varied treatment as to size, material,shape and arrangement, all within the scope of the essential principlesof my invention.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention in a series ot'views, of.

which Figure l is a top plan view of a conveyer constructed according tomy invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the conveyer shown in Fig.l; Fig. 8 shows a side elevation on a larger scale of the tightenersection shown at the left hand of Fig. 2, which forms an important partof my invention; Fig. 4 shows partly in section the operation of thetightener device; Fig. 5 is a side elevation in part of the first intermediate section shown in Fig.'2 coupled with the tightener section; Fig.G shows in detail the triangular drum over which the conveyer floorpasses at each end of the apparatus, and also a portion of the rackwhich is secured to the bottom of the floor sections and forms acontinuous chain; Fig. 6a is a plan of a portion of the parts shown inFig. 6 on an enlarged scale; Fig. 7 shows in detail links of thefloor-rack; Fig. S is a cross-section at 8 8 of Fig. 9; Fig. 9 is one ofthe intermediate sections of which the conveyer is mainly composed; Fig.10 shows in elevation the section used at the end of the apparatus; Fig.11 is a top plan view` of the coupling between two sections and theroller bearing where one rests upon the other; Fig. 12 is across-section of the coupling taken at 12-12 of Fig. 11; Fig. 13 is aside elevation of roller bearing between the contiguous end portions oftwo sect-ions, on the line 13-13 of Fig. 11; Figs. 14 and 15 are detailsof the rack, and Fig.

16 is a fragmentary view of the drum mounting. Y

Referring to the details of the drawing, 14 represents the floorsections, each composed vof several planks arranged transversely of theconveyer. Equal in width to the floor sections, and arrangedperpendicular to them near their ends, are the side boards 14a which maybe of any suitable height. The conveyer as a whole, is preferablydivided into boxes or bodies by the end-boards 14h. The side and endboards are secured to .and braced from the floor by braces 14c (see Fig.8), but not secured to each other. Secured to the under side of the ioorplanks are common strap-hinges 14d arranged with their knucklescoinciding with the joints between the planks. These hinges serve as atrack for wheels 15 which are mounted in the standards 15a, and alsosupport the boxes when in their upright position. In their invertedposition the boxes are supported by wheels 1S which track upon that partof the floor planks which extend beyond the side boards (see Fig. 8). Itwill be seen that the floor, sides and ends which form each boxhave norigid nor positive connection with the supporting framework of theapparatus but merely rest upon the two series of wheels 15 and 1S insuch manner as to permit the bodies or boxes to be easily movedlongitudinally of the apparatus. This motion is imparted to the conveyerthrough the rack 6 shown in Figs. 6, 6a, 7 14 and'15, which is securedto the Linder side of the floor of each section midway its sides,forming an endless chain A which extends over the drums 16 at the endsof the conveyer and the gear-wheel 17c (Fig. 2). These drums 16 haveprojecting teeth which mesh with the racks 6 whereby the rotation of thedrums causes the floor to traverse the apparatus like an endless belt.The racks are jointed together as shown in Figs. 6a, 7, &c.

Keyed to the same shaft on which one of the drums is, fixed, is. adrive-wheel 17 which, as shown, is turned by the crank 17L and pinion17h, but may be driven in any one of a number of ways or by any suitablepower, the essential feature being that the the two ioors.

motion of wheel 17 causes drum 16 to roltate, and this in turn imparts/motion to the conveyer. If the length of the conveyer is great enough torequire it, a driving wheel may be mounted on one of the intermediatesections, as 17 C, Fig. 2.

Instead of being pressed or shrunk on to the axles 19 in the usualmanner, the wheels 21 are preferably held in place by means of a setscrew 21a passing through the hub of one wheel and through a collar 21bon the axle adjacent. to the other wheel whereby the position of thewheels on the axle may be adjusted to the gage of the track on which theapparatus is used.

,To simplify t-he construction of the trucks, and to leave anunobstructed passageway for the inverted boxes, long axles are used,extending the full width of the apparatus and their journal-boxes 20 areplaced at their extremities as shown in Fig. S. Standing upon thejournal boxes are posts 22 which carry the main cross-timbers 23. Eachcross-timber of a section supports the rear end of the longitudinaltimbers 24, the other end of the latter resting on the rear cross timberof the section next ahead, .when the sections are coupled up, and iswithout support when they are uncoupled. Near their unsupported ends,the longitudinal timbers 24 of each section are connected together by across-timber 23a extending the full width of the section. Between theextremities of these timbers 23a and a pair of lugs 20'd1 which form apart of the journal box, are longitudinal and inclined trusses ortimbers 25, so constructed as to withstand either tensile or compressivestress.

' The longitudinal beams 24 have secured thereto a series of standards15a in which wheels 15 are journaled, while the wheels 1S are journaledin brackets 18a secured to the side timbers 24a which extendlongitudinally of the sect-ions and are secured at one end to the posts22 and at the other end, to the posts 22a. Both posts 22 and 22a arebraced from their respective cross-timbers (23 and 23a) by braces 22",and the connection between 22 and 23 may be strengthened in any approvedmanner.

The method of coupling the sections together and of resting the frame ofone upon the frame of the other is shown in detail, in

Figs. 11, 12, and 13. In order that the conveyer may not be undulystretched by t-he passing of the apparatus over a hill, it is necessarythat the distance between the drum centers, measured along a line lyingmidway between the two floors, shall be always constant. This isaccomplished by placing the couplings 11 midway between This position ofthe couplings is shown in Figs. 5, 9 and 10. The couplings 11a bear noneof the weight of the sections, the whole weight being carried on thelongitudinal beams 24 of one section and the cross beams 23 of thesection ahead. When the conveyer is drawn around a curve the side beamsslide freely on each other where they lap. To reduce the friction atthis point rollers 13L are provided on the end of the beam 24, see Figs.11 and 13.

As a means of connecting the braces Q5 of the tightener section and theadjacent section, I provide bolts 23b which engage suitably threadedopenings in plates secured to the ends of said braces, pass through thecross-beams 23a, and are supplied with nuts, as shown in Figs. 3 and 1,whereby the conveyer formed by the several sections may be tightened orloosened as required. Between the ends of the sections, the racks areformed in two sections having a knuckle joint therebetween as shown at61 in Figs. 7 111 and 15.

The rack-plates 6 are pivotally connected at their ends, andintermediate their ends are secured to the under side of t-he floorsections 14 by lugs 6a as shown in Fig. 6a.

A coupling of simple form as l1a connects the end cross timbers 11b, 11,as shown in Fig. 12.

To maintain the floor sections stretched irrespective of the relativepositions of the drums 16, I mount the drum shafts at the ends of theconveyer in slots 28 in the ends of the longitudinal timbers 24, and onthe shaft I fix cams 26, the periphery of which is in frictionalengagement with idler wheels 27 mounted on studs extending from thetimbers 24, as clearly shown in Fig. 16.

`What I claim, is

1. In conveying and dumping apparatus, a series o-f connected frameseach frame supported in part on a wheeled-truck secured thereto, and inpart by the frame next in advance thereof, means for flexibly couplingsaid frames together, and independent means for supporting the forwardend of the front frame of the series.

2. In a conveying and dumping apparatus, a series of connected frames,each consisting of side, vertical and cross timbers rigidly connectedandsuitably braced, the forward portion of each frame adapted to besupported by the rear portion of the frame adjacent thereto, wheeledtrucks supporting the rear portion of said frames, means for flexiblycoupling said frames together, an endless conveyer mounted to travel onsaid frames, and means for driving said conveyers.

3. In a conveying and dumping apparatus, a series of connected frameseach consisting of side, vertical and cross-timbers rigidly connectedand suitably braced, the forward end of each frame adapted to beflexibly and slidably supported by the rear portion of the adjacentforward frame, trucks supporting the rear portions of said frames, anendless sectional conveyer' arranged to travel on said frames, means onsaid frames for anti-frictionally supporting said conveyer sections intheir upright and in their inverted positions, and means for drivingsaid conveyers.

1. In conveying and dumping apparatus, a conveyer section or unit,consi-sting of a frame composed of side timbers, front and rearcross-timbers, and front and rear uprights suitably connected andbraced, means connecting the forward cross-timber with the lower end ofthe rear uprights, a box composed of side, bottom and end plank suitablyconnected and braced, and means mounted on said frame and adapted toantifrictionally support said box when in upright and invertedpositions.

5. In conveying and dumping apparatus, a series of connected frames,each composed of side, and cross-timbers and uprights rigidly connectedand suitably braced, trucks supporting the rear portion of each frame,braces connecting said trucks with the forward cross-timbers, and meansfor taking up the stretch in said conveyer apparatus.

6. In a conveying and dumping apparatus, a series of conveyer frames,each frame being adapted to be supported at one end by the adjacentframe, trucks under the frames, an endless carrier arranged to travelupon said series of frames, triangular drums mounted upon said framesand adapted to operatively engage said carrier, and means for adjustingsaid drums to regulate the tension of the endless carrier.

7. In a conveying and dumping apparatus, a series of conveyer frames,each frame being adapted to be supported at one end upon the adjacentframe, a truck arranged beneath each frame, an endless carrier arrangedto travel upon said series of frames, triangular drums mounted upon saidframes and adapted to operatively engage said carrier, and means foradjusting said drums to regulate the tension of the carrier, relativelyto the positions of the said drums, said adjusting means comprising camsmounted upon the shafts of the drums and operatively engaging abutmentsupon relatively fixed members.

8. In a conveying and dumping apparatus, a series of conveyer framesflexibly connected and adapted to travel upon a suitable track, anendless carrier mounted upon said conveyer frames and moving bodilytherewith, said carrier having a movement independent of the travel ofsaid 'connected frames, triangular drums operatively engaging saidcarrier, and means for adjusting said drums to regulate the tension ofsaid carrier, said adjusting means comprising said adjusting meansincluding cams, and abutments on Said frame engaging the cams. 10

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signature in the presence of tWoWitnesses.

PATRICK R. BANNON. lVitnesses YWM. B. MOORE, ROBERT J. BANNoN.

cams mounted upon the drum shafts and engaging idler Wheels uponrelatively fixed members. Y

9. In a conveying and dumping apparatus including an endless Carrier7 aprisnioidal rotary member, means on said member for engaging saidcarrier, and means for adjusting the rotary member longitudinally,

Copies o! this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner ofV Patents. Washington, D. C.

